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A. 1. TOWNSEND. SHEET SPLITTING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 28. 19!].

Patented Dec. 2, 1919.

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Patented Dec. 1919.

3 SHEETSSHEET 3 l To all whom it may concern.-

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THUR J. TOWNSEND, 0F CANTON, OHIO, ASSIGNOE TO THE NATIONAL PRESSED STEEL COMPANY, OF MASSILLON, OHIO, A CORPORATION OHIO.

Be it known that I, ARTHUR J. TowNsENn, a citizen of the United States, residing at Canton, in the county of Stark and State of Ohio, have invented a new and useful Sheet- Sp'litting Machine, of which the following is a specification. 7

The present invention relates to machines for splitting sheets or light plates of metal into any desired numberof strips of uniform width throughout their'entire lengths and provides means for also trimming the outer edges of the sheets from which the strips are cut.

The object of the present invention is to provide a machine which in one operation will split a sheet or light plate into a plurality of strips of any desired width.

A further object is to provide a machine for the purpose described in which the sheet or light plate to be split may be fed continuouslytherethrough thus greatly reducing the time heretofore required for the manufacture of. a given quantity of the product.

A further object is to provide means whereby the parts ofthe machine may be adjusted in order to'cut strips of various.

widths.

With these objects in view the invention consists in the novel construction and arrangement of parts, hereinafter described, illustrated in the accompanying drawings, and particularly pointedout in the appended claims, it being understood "that various changes in the form, proportions, size and minor details of construction may be made within the scope of the appended claims, without departing from the spiritor sacrificing any of the advantages of the invention.

In the accompanying drawings: I

Figure 1 is a top plan view of a machine constructed in accordance with my invention.

Fig. 2 is a longitudinal section there- 7 through.

Fig. 3 is a sectional view on an enlarged scale of a pair of the co-acting cutter disks. Similar numerals of reference indicate corresponding parts throughout the several- .Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 2, N919.

Application filed may 28, 1917. Serial No. 171,445.

ings, the numerals 11 indicate the side frames which may be of any desired size and form and which are mounted upon the base 2 which is preferably rectangular as feed the sheets or plates of metal, desired to be slit,through the machine, a power pulley 4: being provided upon the shaft 5 of one of said feed rolls for the purpose of impart ing motion to both of the feed rolls and to the splitting disks as will be hereinafter described.

Spaced pairs of shafts 6-6, 7-7, 88 and 9-9 are journaled between the frames 11 beyond the feed rolls 3 and each of the shafts 6, 7 and 8 is provided; with a pair of spaced adjustably mounted collars 10 while the shafts 9 are each provided with only one of said collars. These collars" are so arranged that each adjacent upper and lower collar are mounted in juxtaposition to each other. It will, of course, be understood that any other arrangement of the positions of the pairs of collars may be provided and more or less shafts than are shown in the drawings may also be used without altering the principle of the invention.

Each of the collars 10 is provided upon one face with a circumferential recess 11, in which is located a cutting disk 12 connected to the collar by means of screws 13 or their equivalents. Each collar 10 is provided with an enlarged central aperture 14 preferably having annular shoulders 15 around each face of the collar at the extremities of said aperture and each collar is adjustably mounted upon the screw threaded portion 16 upon the shaft by means of a pair of nuts 17 which have annular flanges 18 arranged to contact with the shoulders 15 of the collars, bosses 19 being provided on the outer faces of said nuts for the purpose of applying a suitable tool to turn them.

An inspection of Fig. 1 ofthe drawings will readily show that the cutting disks upon each succeeding shaft are located closer to the longitudinal center of the machine than the disks upon the next receding shaft. By this construction the disks upon the shafts 6 will trim the outer edges of the sheet or plate as it passes between said disks, the

disks upon the shafts 7 will cut a-strip of the .desired width from each side of the sheet or neously to carry a s eet or plate through the machine and properly split the same,

gears 21 are provided upon each of the cutter disks and roll carrying shafts, the upper and lower gears meshing with each other in the usual manner and the pinions 22 meshing with said gears in order to drive all of the rolls and cutter disks in the proper direction.

For the purpose of guiding the sheets or plates through the machine, guide bars 23 are located transversely across the machine and in a direct horizontal plane with the under faces of the sheets or plates. In order to prevent the strips from buckling or bending as they pass through the cutters a pair of pinch rollers 24 is provided between each set of shafts and in a horizontal plane to receive the strips therebetween for the purpose of keeping the strips in alinement and to also insure their properly entering the next succeeding set of cutter disks.

All such machines heretofore constructed have proven impracticable and imperfect, the defect having been that several of the cutting disks were arranged on one shaft or so that their axis of rotation came in the same line, and as a consequence of thisarrangement, if the sheet or plate failed to present itself in the proper position to the cutters it was wedged or bound between them. The above difiiculty is obviated in the present machine by arranging the cutting disks in two converging lines so that the disks first contact with the sheet or plate near its outer edges and then successively cut nearer and nearer to the centercutting isaaaat one strip after another from each side of the 7 sheet or plate.

A further advantage of the present machine which has not been found possible in- 4 of a uniform width of less than a quarter of an inch, thus making it possible to out strips of the narrowest width which may be required for practical purposes.

Although the drawings and above specification disclose the best mode in which I have contemplated embodying my invention Iydesire to be not limited tothe details of such disclosure, for, in the further practical application of my invention, many changes in form and construction may be made, as circumstances require or experience suggests, without departing from the spirit of the invention, within the scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In a" machine of the character described, a shaft provided with a screw threaded portion, a pair of circular nuts mounted upon the screwthreaded portion, anannular flange around the outer side of each nut, and a cutting disk provided with a central aperture arranged-to receive said nuts and rovided with an annular shoulder at each end of the aperture to engage the flanges upon the nuts.

2. In a machine of the character described, a frame, a series of shafts journaled in said frame and cutting disks mounted upon said shafts and arranged in'two converging lines, each of said cutting disks having a central aperture and an annular shoulder formed upon each face and a pair-of nuts engaging the shaft and arranged to engage said annular shoulder. v

n testimony that I claim the above I have hereunto subscribed my name; ARTHUR J. TOWNSEND. 

